Buyer Beware: Tank on eBay Comes with Swastika Decals

Winning bidder might need to budget for a new paint job

By The Editors
March 18, 2016 9:00 am

There’s a 1944 M4A2E8 Sherman Tank for sale on eBay right now, and if you’ve got a suitcase full of hundred-dollar bills laying around that needs emptying, we can’t think of many better ways to do it.

The fully restored, GM-made Sherman “starts, stops, drives and steers excellent with no issues.” Its rubber treads are at “80 percent or better” and the original twin Detroit 671 diesel engines are intact. (The .30 and 50 caliber guns and cannon are in place, but disabled.)

But that’s not all. On closer inspection, the unit also appears to have a series of red swastikas embossed on the flanks of its turret gun.

Our best guess as to why there is Nazi insignia plastered on decommissioned U.S. military property?

Kill marks — or at least a faux representation of such slapped on there by a previous owner — which was a common practice in WWI but typically appeared as rings, rather than something like, say, the forsaken mark of the Third Reich.

The bidding is just north of $200k as of this writing but there is a $550,000 Buy It Now price for anyone inclined to jump the gun before the auction closes on March 23rd.

The seller is only willing to sell the Sherman stateside.

‘Merica.

Images via eBay

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